In recent years the trend in office buildings has been away from individual rooms for each office worker and toward the use of a single large room to create offices for a number of workers. This is thought to promote communication between the office workers to enhance their performance. This also provides more efficient use of building space and reduces costs. In view of the number of office workers present in a single room, however, there is a problem of increased sound levels distracting the workers. Consequently, a conventional practice is to position office sound screens or dividers between the individual offices to reduce the sound.
An office sound screen includes a vertically extending panel which is generally flat and rectangular in shape. Sometimes a raceway for electrical wires is positioned along the base of the sound screen below the panel. Usually a metal frame is positioned around the edges of the panel. The dimensions of a sound screen can vary widely, but a typical sound screen may be about 5 feet (1.5 meters) high, about 3 feet (0.9 meters) wide, and about 21/2 inches (6.35 cm) thick.
The panel of an office sound screen is constructed of several layers of material, including a sound reducing core. A conventional core includes a layer of chipboard, which is a strong, low density paper board made from mixed waste paper. The core further includes a layer of insulation on both sides of the chipboard, typically fiberglass insulation. Optionally a thin, tackable layer of material such as a high density glass fiber board is positioned on both sides of the core. This layer is provided to enable the office workers to tack or pin papers or similar items to the sound screen if desired. A cloth fabric covers both faces of the panel and is attached to the metal frame and the raceway.
Unfortunately, the material and assembly cost of the conventional panel is relatively high. The chipboard material used to make the core layer is relatively expensive. Further, the assembly cost is relatively high because the panel is assembled by handling the two layers of insulation and the layer of chipboard separately. The office furniture market, like many other markets, has shifted to more economical products. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an office sound screen that is effective in reducing sound, and that also has reduced material and assembly costs compared to the conventional sound screen.